Category: FAQ’s and KNOWLEDGE BASES

The FAQ section (Frequently Asked Questions) provides shorter answers to common questions on topics relevant to this site: communication, planning, conflict, leadership and more coming. Available FAQ’s are accessible here.
What is The Abilene Paradox, Communicationwise?
The Abilene Paradox, Communication and GroupThink What is The Abilene Paradox? The Abilene Paradox was presented to the world by Jerry Harvey, in his book of management essays of the same name. In the first essay in the book, Harvey…
What are communication channels and why are they important?
Communication can be split into two parts — the message or content, and the channel it’s transmitted on. For example, you may want to communicate something about your emotional state — let’s say that you are angry. You can communicate…
Why do the same words mean different things to different people?
People get perplexed because they may say something (a word, phrase or sentence) to one person and get one reaction and say the exact same thing to anther person, and get a completely different, or even opposite reaction. Don’t words…
What is cooperative communication?
Cooperative communication is a term coined by Robert Bacal in the 1990’s to describe communication techniques that tend to encourage people to work together, or cooperate (hence the name). The opposite of cooperative communication, he called confrontational communication. After working…
What You Don’t Say Counts: “You Don’t Say?” Good!
What You Don’t Say Determines The Relationship We know that “good” talk smooths and builds relationships, whether with family, or friends or in the workplace. Supportive listening and compliments are important in building a good foundation of trust and mutual…
Can you provide practical tips and suggestions to improve email communication?
The following is an excerpt from Conflict Prevention in the Workplace — Using Cooperative Communication When sending e-mail always reread what you have written before sending it on. Read it twice (at least) — once for content (does it say…